To start things off, I’m joyful that Katrina of Callapidder Days won The Minivan Years book giveaway! If you check back later this week, I’ll have another book giveaway.  (This was so hard – so many people I liked entered, and I couldn’t rig it!)

To fill your giveaway needs until then, check out Jo’s fruit roll up giveaway!  I’ve also got information about the Room a Day Giveaway over at Spotlight Reviews – that’s a lot of money they’re giving away!

Sometimes joys are big, and sometimes they are little. No matter what, if it makes me smile so hard that my face hurts, it’s a Good Thing!

Biggest Joy – my evil headache/migraine has lessened enough that I can think coherently. Woot! They fussed with my meds a bit, and other than feeling logey for a day, it seems to have no side-effects. (knock wood)

Another Big joy – I got paid for a book review!!! I’ve been published a couple places, I’ve been quoted several places, but only received honorariums for book reviews – never real money. Woo-hoo! (before I agreed, I made sure that I could write a negative review, but Flight turned out to be a good listen)

More book-geek joys – I got a numbered galley of an upcoming book from a Big Name publisher. Then I was contacted by a publicist for a NYT bestselling author with an offer to read and review an Advance Reader Copy of his new release.  Heady stuff!

Plus, I got lovely warm fuzzies about my book reviews. “You’re an excellent reviewer: comprehensive, insightful, thorough, and crisp writing that’s a pleasure to read.” Woot!

To top it all off, I got a lovely award from SMS Book Reviews!

My cheeks are hurting from the grinning. I highly recommend days like these!  They could become addicting.

Now it’s back to the grindstone – dinner to serve, books to read, more book reviews to publish (currently working on 3), and a Winter Reading List to update!

Everyone’s been a good sport lately. Except me.

Jack’s a good sport with letting the girls play with him and put hats on him. (as long as he has his ball!) He’s also been a good sport about indoor ball-playing when it’s cold out.

Harley’s been a good sport about keeping feet warm in the rooms Jack isn’t inhabiting.

BG has been a good sport about helping out with chores and playing with her sisters.

MG has been a good sport about helping out, focusing, and not bouncing on the bed constantly!

LG has been a good sport by keeping her smile face on most of the time.

B has been a good sport by buying me my favorite candies and being really nice to me.

I’ve been a spoiled brat, whining and curling into a ball with a bad headache/possible migraine. I’m glad the last book I reviewed was on audio book, because then I didn’t have to actually read anything!!

Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel, is a unique novel written by Vanna Bonta and newly released audio book, read by the author. She describes the book thusly, “Flight is an adventure of multiple realities”. This is a novel that takes science fiction and fantasy to a different level, to a new world called quantum fiction. Flight blurs the lines between the mundane world and alternate reality, all the while delving into questions of existence and the power of thought. The author describes this new genre:

quantum fiction is literature that embodies the new physical or quantum universe. It involves the view of reality as a multi-dimensional experience in which reality is subjectively seen and uncertainly known.

Read the rest of the review

LG’s self-portrait, as a part of CHBM Photo Friday: Pictures from the kids

So, have you noticed that I read a lot? heh Well, I write, too.

Yes, I write a lot of reviews, but I also write some fiction. If you check out my Novel Excerpt Page, Chapter One is now available to read as a .pdf. Please let me know what you think! (politely, please!)

I’m also writing a story that has some unusual twists. I’m looking for a test reader – but that person needs to like vampire stories and either not be Christian or have a sense of humor and irony about religion and fate. It’s nowhere near perfect yet, but I’m fidgeting with it when my headaches aren’t too bad.

I’m starting to work on reviews in which I am actually paid. Woot! I’m on the lookout for more paid reviewing opportunities, so if you know of any, please let me know! With newspapers cutting back their reviewing staff, paid book review opportunities seem somewhat few and far between. I know I’ll find something, though. Especially when I get lovely comments like the one from Felicia about my review of her book!

In other book and review news…

• There are still 2 days left to enter the contest for a Christian parenting book! 18 entrants as of this writing!

• I’ve got my first audiobook review coming up!
• Once I finish the book I’m currently reading, I’ll be reading the third book of the Jaz Parks series, and giving away 2 copies of book 2 – and another vampire/werewolf book as well. Stay tuned!

Off to do the few things in my life that don’t involve reading or writing… Or maybe to go read with and/or to the kids. They are loving Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, and can’t get enough of it!

This review is part of a ParentBloggers book tour.

The Sky Isn’t Visible from Here: Scenes from a Life is the newly released memoir by Felicia Sullivan, creator of the Writers Revealed podcast, among other projects. I have been lucky enough to work with on Writers Revealed, and which piqued my interest in her memoir. This is a book about Felicia living through her mother’s addictions and relationships, surviving a very difficult childhood, and then struggling with her own addictions. I have seen friends and family members struggle with addictions, and it was amazing to look into Felicia’s life and read a brutally honest account of living with addiction.

Read the rest of the review

I have a bunch of books in my “to review” stack right now.

As much as I love my current “fun” book (American Gods: A Novel), I want to get back to the review books – there are some really great ones coming up! I just got a copy of a book that isn’t even in book form yet!!! It’s still in the Kinkos-style binding. Swoon… I realize that being paid cash for book reviews is lovely, but being paid in books is lovely, too!

I’m also listening to the audiobook for Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel, written and read by Vanna Bonta. What a fascinating concept!  It would take too long to explain, so this’ll have a lovely review posted later.  Audiobooks take longer for me to listen to than books take for me to read!

Apropos of nothing at all (though it’s harder to read, review, and concentrate when I’ve got a bad headache), I need these blinding headaches to stop, they’ve been happening for over a week now. Sharp shooting pain out of nowhere, and it stays for hours, despite my pain meds. Much worse when I’m moving. There are two major possibilities: 1) now that I’m not pregnant or lactating, I am getting migraines again; 2) Cutting down the Valium (muscle relaxers) is causing muscle spasms and pain in my neck, which is causing the headaches. Now to get the doctors to figure out which one it is… Feh, it’s not like I need any more doctor visits.

Today is Blog for Choice Day, commemorating the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The theme for this year is “Why I vote pro-choice”.

I vote pro-choice because I think abortions need to be kept legal. I believe firmly that a woman deserves the right to choose how to care for her body. I believe that making abortions illegal wouldn’t stop abortions, it would just make them more dangerous. Statistically, our abortion rate is the lowest since 1976, which refutes the idea that the longer abortions are legal, the more people will choose that option.

Why do I think abortion should be kept legal?

• Because women who are raped or victims of incest can become pregnant, and it is unfair to make the woman continue a pregnancy after that trauma.
• Because diseases like toxemia exist that can take the life of the woman and fetus, or spare the life of the woman if she aborts.
• Because there are diseases and genetic conditions that can lead to a child dying in severe pain within hours or days of birth.
• Because you never know what could happen to you.

I vote pro-choice so that women have an option that will save their lives and/or sanity. Does this mean that there are some people who have abortions for reasons other than what I listed? Absolutely. Do I wish that people would make different choices? Sometimes. But how can I know for sure what their lives are like? I can’t. It’s their decision. Their bodies.

I vote pro-choice because I don’t think the country should make laws based on religious beliefs.

I vote pro-choice because the Constitution grants us the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, and therefore the woman’s life and happiness need to protected.  If a pregnancy would threaten a woman’s life or happiness, she needs to have options for termination.
I also vote pro-choice because I want to give myself an out. I have no plans to have an abortion (and no plans to become pregnant), but I can’t see into the future. A wise doctor of mine once said, “Sometimes you wait because someone else has had an emergency. Sometimes you are the emergency.” He was right, I was. And someday I might need an abortion. I am selfish enough to want abortion to be kept legal for that possibility.

If you still think “It could never happen to me”, read Julia’s story about her son Thomas, and her need for a late-term abortion.

I vote pro-choice because I want there to be choices available for all women.

I’ve been reading a lot of books lately. Oh, wait, you already knew that! I’m currently working on 3 reviews. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to read such wonderful books. I also finally finished reading Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere: A Novel, and am currently reading American Gods: A Novel. I’m embarrassed at how long I’ve had them without reading them, especially because they are both such great books. There’s also something so peaceful about reading next to your children, who are also reading. Aaahh…

If you aren’t one of the bloggers reviewing Felicia Sullivan’s amazing memoir, then go buy it. My review will be up Wednesday, but you don’t have to wait until then – pick The Sky Isn’t Visible from Here up at Amazon or your local bookstore.

If you’re another vampire/paranormal book lover, make sure you check out Marta Costa’s Vampire Wire, which has links to reviews and interviews about that genre. Marta herself has written two wonderful and unique vampire books (Happy Hour at Casa Dracula and Midnight Brunch) – vampires aren’t usually a very diverse lot, the first one is reviewed in this post. If you’re a paranormal/vampire book lover, please out yourself! I’m considering another giveaway, but I need to know if there are people out there in my readership…

Don’t forget about the Christian parenting book giveaway!

Meanwhile, here’s my question – what do you use as a bookmark? I tend to use Post-Its, because that way when LG moves my book, the bookmark doesn’t fall out. Anyone else have a good bookmark idea?

or, the art of kissing Frenchmen…

Kristin Harmel writes wonderful chick lit and has fun with her titles. Her first book’s title was somewhat innocuous (The Blonde Theory), her second was titled How to Sleep with a Movie Star (reviewed here), and now her soon to be released third book is The Art of French Kissing. The latter two titles are ones that make I blush as I tell someone what I’m reading, but nothing will stop me from reading them – Kristin quickly pulls you into the world and the characters she has created.

Read the rest of the review